Katmandoo: The Story of Little Buddy as Told by Little Buddy

By E.J. Cox

Katmandoo is a book about a feral kitten, Little Buddy, surviving life in rural north Texas by befriending and becoming a pet to a fellow loner, only known as the Hairy Armed Man. Always wild and never domesticated completely, Little Buddy faces many perils, life changing events, and other wild animals living in the country just beyond the edges of the porch belonging to his human. Little Buddy tells readers of his life through middle age, including adventures with a wild hog, cousin cats losing their lives and appendages through every day accidents, and important the relationships he makes along the way. This tuxedo cat takes the reader from darkness before he can open his eyes to the point in his life he can reflect on his past and feel gratitude for his full life. He talks about his emotions of joy, jealousy, curiosity, excitement, anger and happiness. Even though he is madly independent without anyone telling him when and where he can go and what he can do, this cat shows us he is just like every pet alive, just longing for a little attention from the one that feeds him and loves him most. This book also includes original artwork in color. All contributors of this fiction book are from Texas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9798987126219

Book preview

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This book is fiction. None of the characters or events are real and are meant only as fiction. Any resemblances to real people or events are completely coincidental.

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Manufactured in the United States of America.

First Edition  ISBN(pbk) 979-8-9871262-0-2

Ebook ISBN 979-8-9871262-1-9

Table of Contents

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Epilogue

Part 1

The darkness.

How could I know what the darkness was?

When my eyes were shut, I knew the darkness. I was not aware that it was the darkness. I was alive, but I could not see. I could only hear, smell, and feel my mother. And then, I could see.

I was probably about three weeks alive when I first saw him. He used to come around by the barn and visit my mother’s owner. They would sit around and talk about this and that. It all had nothing to do with a cat. This is what I am. Yes, that’s right, I am a cat. I am a cat! Meow.

Some people would prefer to call me a kitten.

And over the past few lives, I have lived a special life…

I feel like I was chosen over my brothers, sisters, and cousins. Because you know, we all lived together in that barn, and sometimes when I was young, things were tough. My mother would sometimes stay out late, and sometimes not even come home until dawn. When she did, she may or may not have anything for us to eat. It was tough.

But back to him…

One evening, it was after a long hot day and my mother had been avoiding us because she didn’t have anything to give us to eat; I noticed her in the distance sitting on a picnic table talking to him. I ran as fast as I could to try and nurse on her before my siblings could get there. When I finally made it to her, she was still talking to him. I was not exactly sure what she was saying, and all I really wanted was something to eat. But as I jumped up onto the table to sit next to her, I heard a strange sound that caught my attention. It was a sound that I had not ever heard before. I knew it to be a human voice, but it was an excited, high-pitched voice. I did know this human voice! I had heard it before, but this time it was very different. It was him. I call him HAM now, but then he was just a big hairy-armed man to me.

Very interesting, I thought to myself.

As I turned to find my mother’s milk, I felt the human’s hand stroke my back from my ears to my tail, and I heard his human voice say, Well, now there, then. Just who do we have here?

Although I did like the petting, I didn’t like the fact that he was interrupting my meal. The sad fact was, there was no meal. There wasn’t anything to eat at all from my mother anymore. I purred and meowed all around my mother, brushing up against her to try to get her to lead me to a mouse, a bird, or even a grasshopper. To no avail, though. She just kept talking to him.

I was so intent on eating that I didn’t realize what she was saying until I heard him say, Okay, I’ll take your baby. I know you are having a rough time, and you know I live just up the road. If you ever want to come to visit, come on. And that’s when he scooped me up, carried me to a pick-up truck, and up the road we went.

I was so scared because I had seen my cousins crawl up inside one of those pick-up trucks, and never come back. They used to get up there to keep warm. Then, all of a sudden, the pick-up truck would start up and head off down the road, and I would not ever see those cousins again. I thought that was going to happen to me right then. Much to my surprise, though, after traveling for just a little bit we stopped. I was clawing at his big hairy arms, and I heard him cuss. When he opened the pick-up